Odd Game
by Stargazer79
Summary: A dream I had where I was Ariel. Not meant to be serious, just a dream.


Ariel didn't exactly know where she was. She had never gone this far away from Atlantica before. She didn't know there were mermaids living out here, away from all the cities she knew.

She watched them from a distance, behind a clump of seaweed. These mermaids weren't afraid of getting close to the surface; some of them even went up to it.

They looked like they were doing some kind of dance class in a big group, flipping and tumbling and twirling. Ariel also noticed that these mermaids were a whole lot bigger than her. She wondered why.

The class ended and the group dispersed. Then Ariel saw someone who had the same red hair and green colored tail as her own.

She followed this look-alike, struggling to keep up since she was smaller. The mermaid was heading toward a wall of rock. Ariel thought she was going to run into it when she suddenly swam upward and leaped out of the water. She never came back down.

Ariel cautiously peeked up out of the water. She saw that the rock wall divided into a bunch of separate rocks that were joined at the bottom. Even the spaces between each rock were high up.

Ariel thought she might make the jump, but was there water on the other side? That other girl did it, there must be.

Ariel went under again so she could get a good start. Then she swam as fast as she could upward and shot out of the water.

She almost soared right through the space between two rocks but didn't quite make it. She landed halfway through it on her stomach, her head on one side and her tail on the other.

The tall rocks surrounded all sides of the water except one. Directly ahead of her was a sandy beach. The water inside this big circle was higher up than outside, and she could just touch it with her hand if she reached down from her position.

She tried to push herself through, and when that didn't work she tried to go back the way she'd come, but no matter how much she wiggled, she couldn't get off the rocks. She was stuck.

She saw the mermaid who looked like her come up from under the water. Ariel tried to be as quiet as she could, but the girl turned and saw her.

"Hey! What are you doing up there?" she said with a smile, swimming over. Ariel had no idea _what _she was doing here.

The girl took her hand. "Aww, you're so small!" she said. "You're like a little me!"

Ariel looked down and saw that her hand was like a baby's compared to the girl's.

"Here, let me help you." The girl started pulling, but Ariel was still stuck. When that failed, the girl pulled herself up onto a small ledge beside the space. Then she lifted Ariel up out of the crack and gently dropped her into the water, following behind.

"I'm Avia, by the way," she said.

"I'm Ariel," Ariel replied, feeling a little shy in this big mermaid's presence.

Avia looked past her toward the beach. "Here they come!" She exclaimed happily.

Ariel spun, splashing up some water. "Who?" she asked.

"My friends. They're humans, but they're really nice," Avia explained quickly.

"Humans!" Ariel was shocked.

Avia only nodded and pulled Ariel closer to the beach. Two humans came up to them, an older man and a young boy.

"Hi Avia!" The boy greeted, and she waved.

"I see you've brought a friend," the man said.

"Yeah, I guess so. I just met her, but she can come if she wants to." Avia turned to her. "How about it, Ariel?"

Ariel was speechless, so she shook her head instead.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Avia knew what Ariel must've been thinking, so she added, "It's okay, they're not like other humans. That's why they're my friends."

Reluctantly, Ariel agreed, but to what, she didn't know. She was always eager for a new adventure.

"Alright, we're ready," Avia said to the people.

The man put Avia into a weird looking thing with wheels and a long handle. Then he put Ariel in it beside her.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"We're going to play a game," Avia answered.

The man pulled the wagon they were in behind him until they arrived at a very long, empty road.

"What's the game?" Ariel asked.

"They push us down the road in the wagon real hard and then run after it and try to get to us first. Whoever wins gets to pull us back and we do it again. It's real fun," Avia told her. "Ready?"

Ariel clung tightly to the edges of the wagon and nodded once.

"One...two...three, go!" the man said. He and the boy pushed very hard and sent the wagon rolling extremely fast down the road.

Avia put her hands up and cheered. Ariel closed her eyes tightly and held on for dear life. The wagon finally slowed to a stop at the very end of the road. The boy reached it first and began pulling it all the way back to where they started.

"We're doing it again?" Ariel asked.

"Yeah, isn't it fun!" Avia responded.

"It's kind of scary."

"Well, you gotta open your eyes and put your hands up. It's more fun that way," Avia told her. "Come on, give it another try."

Ariel nodded. This time when they pushed the wagon she kept her eyes open. Everything to the sides of them rushed by, and her red hair flew behind her alongside Avia's similar hair.

Slowly, she unclenched her hands, then hesitantly let go of the sides and put them up. As they sped down the seemingly never-ending road, Ariel realized it was fun. She laughed and cheered with Avia the rest of the way.

When they stopped, she said," Let's do it again!"

They did it a bunch more times, each time more fun than the last, until Avia said it was time to go. On the way back to the ocean, Ariel said, "I want to do this again sometime."

"That would be fun!" Avia exclaimed. "I come everyday, so when you want to, just meet me at the rocks."

Back in the water, Avia helped Ariel get over the rocks and they swam back to her home together.

"Bye!" Ariel called as she turned to go back to her own home in Atlantica. She'd have to ask her father about these very big mermaids living out in the middle of nowhere one day, but for now she was keeping it a secret.


End file.
